"Це мій хлопець!"

Translation: This is my boyfriend!

[Abbyth11]

Why can't "це" be "that" in this sentence?

[zaccharles]

My Ukrainian girlfriend says it can be. I think Duolingo has it wrong.

[dempl]

Yeah, they're killing it in Russian Course as well with "this" and "that" , when in the real life, the translations for this and that are far more "loose" ,i.e. depends from the context.

What's worse they do that in schools in English courses, harassing students to use exactly one word for "this" and another for "that" , taking points from exams if they get it "wrong" (Source: my Mrs. is English teacher in Moscow)

[TseDanylo]

It can mean that it most contexts. We translate це as this is mainly because of its usage. Its French equivalent c'est is used in the same way, to point out something we don't know about.

[max.goncharuk]

Generally, this/this is - це/цей and that - той.
And yeap, it's a bit killing in Ukrainian.

[GeneM.]

Дуже приємно!

[Stella319955]

це means this is according to everything else i've done